GOEX vs SGDM

GOEXCGlobal X Gold Explorers ETF

SGDMBSprott Gold Miners ETF

In short

GOEX Most gold funds buy the miners already pulling metal out of the ground. GOEX buys the ones still looking for it: a global basket of explorers and developers, tracking a Solactive index since 2010.

SGDM SGDM doesn't just rank gold miners by size. It tracks a custom-factors index of roughly 50 larger miners listed in Canada and the US, and charges 0.46%, under its peer group's median fee.

Stated mandate

GOEX The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Solactive Global Gold Explorers & Developers Total Return Index.

SGDM The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index, which targets larger gold companies listed on Canadian and major U.S. exchanges.

Why people hold it

• GOEX Owns the front end of the gold supply chain: explorers and developers hunting deposits and building mines, not the established producers most gold funds lean on.
• About 50 names, a global mandate, and a portfolio that stays tight to the explorers-and-developers index it names.
• Trading since 2010, so there is a real record across more than one full gold cycle to dig through.

• SGDM Fee of 0.46% sits under the median for precious-metals miner funds, and under both GDX (0.51%) and GDXJ (0.52%).
• Rules-based and named out loud: it follows the Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index (SOLGMCFT), and it has stayed close to that stated mandate.
• Running since 2014, a long life for a thematic fund, and it holds about 50 larger gold companies rather than a sprawling list.
• Lands in the upper half of the gold and silver miner group in our review, with high confidence in the underlying data.

Worth knowing

• GOEX At 0.65% a year it costs more than the category heavyweights: GDX charges 0.51%, RING 0.39%.
• It trades lightly next to the big gold-miner funds, so bid-ask spreads can widen when markets move fast.
• Explorers and developers often have no producing mine and no revenue, which makes for a bumpier ride than producer-heavy gold funds.

• SGDM Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so spreads can be wider and larger orders can push the price around.
• The index sticks to Canadian and major US listings, so gold miners quoted only on other exchanges sit outside the portfolio.
• One industry, driven by the gold price and how well mines actually run, so the ride is bumpier than a broad stock fund.

Full GOEX profile⁠

Full SGDM profile⁠